Wendy Hughes
A short film depicting the various stages of an acid trip, composed of psychedelically altered and repurposed footage from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Aging artist and scholar Barry is disenchanted with his existence - disillusioned by his sexless marriage to a televangelist, and repulsed by her brand of easy-to-swallow self-help Christianity. In dire need of an outlet he turns to Irina, a Russian immigrant and prostitute. Seeking better lives, both Barry and Irina find strength in each other as they seek mutual salvation.
As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.
A grumpy old man living in an idyllic coastal town who can't see he has the perfect life.
A lawyer becomes a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was “an act of God”. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and, as God’s representative, The Church.
State Coroner was an Australian television series screened on Network Ten in 1997 and 1998. There were two series produced with a total of 29 episodes. The series was set in the State Coroner's office complex and featured investigations into deaths, murders, suicides, accidents and natural causes. The drama begins from the initial inquiry through to the courtroom appearances, the Coroner's final verdict and recommendations for trial or reform.
Paradise Road is a 1997 film which tells the story of a group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women who are imprisoned in Sumatra during World War II. It was directed by Bruce Beresford and stars Glenn Close as beatific Adrienne Pargiter, Frances McDormand as the brash Dr. Verstak, Pauline Collins as missionary Margaret Drummond (based on missionary Margaret Dryburgh), Julianna Margulies as American socialite Topsy Merritt, Jennifer Ehle as British doyenne and model Rosemary Leighton Jones, Cate Blanchett as Australian nurse Susan McCarthy and Elizabeth Spriggs as dowager Imogene Roberts. Basing his picture on real events, Bruce Beresford tells the story of a vocal orchestra created by the women in a Japanese P.O.W. camp, a classic survivors' tale extolling women's ability to survive hardship and atrocity through perseverance, solidarity and creativity.
The Man from Snowy River is an Australian television series based on Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River". Released in Australia as Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River, the series was subsequently released in both the United States and the United Kingdom as Snowy River: The McGregor Saga. The television series has no relationship to the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River or the 1988 sequel The Man from Snowy River II. Instead, the series follows the adventures of Matt McGregor, a successful squatter, and his family. Matt is the hero immortalized in Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River", and the series is set 25 years after his famous ride. The first season was very much a soap opera with several story arcs, but the primary one concerns the arrival of Matt's American nephew, who's bent on revenge, certain Matt cheated his father out of the station Matt now owns. In subsequent seasons, there were shorter story-arcs, often featuring guest stars over a few episodes, and some episodes stood entirely on their own. Stars and guest stars of the series included notables and future notables Andrew Clarke, Guy Pearce, Josh Lucas, Victoria Tennant, Olivia Newton John, Tracy Nelson, Lee Horsley, Dean Stockwell, Chad Lowe, Jane Badler, Wendy Hughes, Hugh Jackman, and Frances O'Connor.
Bristol, England, early 19th century. A beautiful young stranger who speaks a weird language is tried for the crime of begging. But when a man claims that he can translate her dialect, it is understood that the woman is a princess from a far away land. She is then welcomed by a family of haughty aristocrats that only wants to heighten their prestige. However, the local reporter is not at all convinced she is what she claims to be and investigates. Is Caraboo really a princess?
Blue is a teenage girl who lives with her Jazz playing father Ham. Ham gets very sick and dies, and now Blue must support herself somehow. Elle, the headmistress at a brothel, talks her into living and working at her establishment. She decides to leave the business and lead a normal life. Elle is hellbent to see that she never has one.
A Woman Named Jackie is a 1991 American made for television miniseries chronicling the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was based on C. David Heymann's 1989 book of the same title.
Dr. Kristine Lipton finds that something strange is happening in the hospital she works for when a friend is strangled by an elderly patient, who runs away but has an accident and dies. Kristine tries to find out more about this man, but discovers that all the personnel (including the hospital's director), are hiding something.
Shaken by the stockmarket crash of ’87 … plus a few other distractions like attempted murder, flirtatious affairs and a lunatic, knife wielding chef … their friendship is put to the test! But, rest assured, these resilient women-of-the-world will pull through and enjoy many more entrées together at Luigi’s!
A small desert town in western Australia is the scene of several love affairs in this romantic drama. Forty-year-old Stella (Wendy Hughes) works at her father's hotel and bar. She receives annual New Year's marriage proposals from rodeo rider Andy Ford (John Hargreaves), who talks himself into asking her one more time. Stella's father Billy (Norman Kaye) is a former cricket star whose career ended early when he was involved in a sex scandal. She spends the night with vacationing Arthur (Michael Siberry) when his car breaks down. Andy elects not to pop the question to Stella in lieu of her one-night stand with the stranger. When Billy elects to marry June Thompson (Julie Nihill), the local gossipmongers have a field day recalling the woman's promiscuous past.
A convent teacher spreads a little happiness and makes enough money to support her crippled brother's habit by selling her favours regularly on a cross-country night sleeper. She makes sure she is in control of each encounter until one client reaches her more than she expects.
Amerika – suggesting a Russified name for the United States – is an American television miniseries that was broadcast in 1987 on ABC. The miniseries inspired a novelization entitled Amerika: The Triumph of the American Spirit. Amerika starred Kris Kristofferson, Mariel Hemingway, Sam Neill, Robert Urich, and a 17-year-old Lara Flynn Boyle in her first major role. Amerika was about life in the United States after a bloodless takeover engineered by the Soviet Union. Not wanting to depict the actual takeover, ABC Entertainment president Brandon Stoddard set the miniseries ten years after the event, focusing on the demoralized American people a decade after the Soviet conquest. The intent, he later explained, was to explore the American spirit under such conditions, not to portray the conflict of the Soviet coup. Described in promotional materials as "the most ambitious American miniseries ever created," Amerika aired for 14½ hours over seven nights, and reportedly cost US$40 million to produce. The miniseries was filmed in Toronto, London, Ontario, and Hamilton, Ontario, as well as various locations in Nebraska – most notably the small town of Tecumseh, which served as "Milford," the fictional setting for most of the series. Donald Wrye was the executive producer, director, and writer of Amerika, while composer Basil Poledouris scored the miniseries, ultimately recording eight hours of music – the equivalent of four feature films.
Sister Honour Langtree (Wendy Hughes), is in charge of a military hospital for psychiatric patients. She however transgresses boundaries by developing a sexual attraction for a new patient.
Stalwart aussie actor John Waters is wannabe-novelist Robert Marks. No one can fault his persistence and application in the past - he really wants the big-time bad. The day comes however when he realises his dream and with the royalties flooding in, new friends, a ramp-up in status and not the least, recognition as a precocious new talent, his life style changes. It's not the only thing to change however. He finds he's lost his creativity, the adrenalin has dried up. Is it writer's block or is he simply a one-hit wonder? Very capable supporting cast keep the story moving and the underplayed nature of the film itself makes it thoroughly watchable. Many worse than this to be sure!
A woman recently returned to work is contacted by her former husband who has been in a mental institution. She is torn between her still strong desire for him, and her fear, which comes from events in their past. She cannot control his intrusion into both her current life and her second marriage, and tragedy ensues.
My First Wife is about the dramatic collapse of the marriage between John and Helen. It is also a film about our children and the future we offer them. Helen has decided to leave, and it is John who lacks the inner resources to cope with the impending tragedy. Slowly he is sucked into a tunnel of despair – fighting his conservative nature and the romantic memories of his married life.
Abandoned by his father after his mother dies, young PS lives in suburban Sydney with his aunt Lila and her husband George. While they lead a modest existence, PS is happy with them. However, his contentment is derailed when Lila's wealthy sister, Vanessa, returns from England and takes an interest in PS.
Stephanie Harper is rich but insecure 40 year old heiress with two failed marriages behind her. Stephanie believes that she has found true love with tennis pro Greg Marsden, but after the wedding, Greg promptly begins an affair with Stephanie’s best friend Jilly Stewart. Whilst on their honeymoon, Greg pushes Stephanie into a crocodile-infested swamp, and he and Jilly watch as she is apparently mauled to death. However, Stephanie miraculously survives and goes to an island clinic where she meets Dr. Dan Marshall, a brilliant plastic surgeon who uses his talents to repair her face and body. Using her new identity and fortune, she plots her revenge on Greg and Jilly and aims to take back what is rightfully hers.
In this offbeat comedy, an unlikely romance develops between a flamboyant, middle-aged piano tuner and an extremely timid office worker
Three attractive socialites working for charity turn to robbery to keep a special primary school for underprivileged children open.
Based on the novel by Martin Boyd (1946) this miniseries tells the story of many generations of a family who migrate from England to Australia and eventually back to England, suffering poverty and becoming social climbers. The family's social ambitions lead to conflicts between Lucinda and her parents over the attentions of Tony Duff. She therefore marries wealthy Englishman Hugo Brayford and moves to England with him. A series of failures and adulterous episodes in England lead to her experience of "geographical schizophrenia" and personality disintegration.
A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.
Two fun-loving carnival workers take a vacation with the hope of finding plenty of sex and drugs. Their "quest" is fulfilled when they encounter a dope-peddler and two exotic nightclub dancers.
A beautiful and talented editor of a successful women's magazine discovers that she is pregnant. She decides to have the baby and raise it as a single parent.
A beautiful woman, Kate (Tina Grenville), is released from a sanatorium unaware that while she was away her husband John (George Lazenby) has begun an affair with her sister Marianne (Wendy Hughes). The two sisters live together in a creepy apartment block while John is away, and find themselves stalked by some mysterious strangers.
You're going to get us both killed with your grandstanding...! Two guys, one girl, and no brakes! Death defying daredevils burning up the track in thrill-a-minute action. Burning the track like its never been burned before!
Tony Petersen, a married electrician and ex-footballer, goes to university to study English. Petersen is odd man out at the uni. He receives extracurricular help from his stuffy professor's beautiful lecturer wife in her office. Their get-togethers there are quite rootine. The professor is also seeing one of his students after class. Petersen and the professor's wife talk about having a baby. But then she accepts an appointment to Oxford, provoking a rage in Petersen...
Number 96 was a popular Australian soap opera set in a Sydney apartment block. Don Cash and Bill Harmon of the Cash Harmon Television production company, produced the series for Network Ten, which requested a Coronation Street-type serial, and specifically one that explored adult subjects. The premise, original story outlines, and the original characters were devised by David Sale who also wrote the scripts for the first episodes and continued as script editor for much of the show's run. The series proved to be a huge success, running from 1972 until 1977. Number 96 was so popular it spawned a feature film version, filmed in December 1973. Number 96 was known for its sex scenes and nudity, somewhat risque at the time, and for its comedy characters. The series was the first Australian soap opera to feature an openly gay character.
